Posts By: Kevin Cullen

Introducing Making Comics 3.0

Posted by & filed under News.

Making Comics Worldwide is proud to announce the launch of Making Comics 3.0! Our new, updated website allows users and creators to more fluidly navigate our expansive resources. In addition, we’ve begun collecting articles and tutorials from websites all across the internet, cataloging them, and providing users with direct links to websites in an effort to expand the making comics community. We’ve also opened up volunteer opportunities to the community to help make our site the most effective it can be.

Upgrades include:

  • Integration of a comprehensive crowdsourcing library aimed at cataloging all comic-making educational resources on the web.
  • Underdog Community merge including articles, forums, and more.
  • All MakingComics.com features designated home pages (Talking Comics, Gutter Talk Pod, Underdogs, etc.)
  • Comprehensive outline of our plans as a nonprofit.
  • Workflow for multiple levels of volunteer input.

With the relaunch of the website, Making Comics Worldwide has officially merged with their sister site, The Underdog Community (a.k.a. Webcomic Underdogs). This merger grants access to an assortment of resources –  lively web forums, active Facebook groups, and twitter conversations – that were previously just outside the reach of the small staff at Making Comics Worldwide. With these additions, the Making Comics Worldwide community grows by the thousands (literally), making our website the largest source of free, creator-based content in the world.

We need your help

One of our bold new goals on the new MakingComics.com is creating a crowdsourced library of ALL of the existing, and emerging, comic resources on the web. We are definitely going to need help doing this. During this initial site launch it would be amazing if we could have some of the Underdogs go through the process of submitting links to our library.

If you want to know what kind of sites and resources we are looking to catalogue and how we are cataloguing them, check out our handy content guide.

https://makingcomics.com/content-guide/

Volunteer To Help Us Change The World

If you are super interested in EVERYTHING above and want to know how you can be more involved with the MakingComics.com project, check out our volunteer section at:

https://makingcomics.com/volunteer/

Support Our Formation Of The Making Comics Worldwide Nonprofit

One of our big goals for the coming year is going to be establishing Making Comics Worldwide as a 501(3)(c) charitable education nonprofit. If you are interested in understanding more about our goals as a nonprofit visit our nonprofit website www.MakingComicsWorldwide.com.

Donations

While there, please consider filling out our donations survey so we can contact you when we are starting our fundraising processes.

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#TalkingComics w/ Kevin Cullen: Brent Weeks On Writing and Adapting Novels to Comics

Posted by & filed under TalkingComics, Underdogs.

One of the things I enjoy most about writing is how varied the form can become, both technically as well as thematically, while still telling the same story. I spoke with Brent Weeks (The Night Angel Trilogy, The Lightbringer Series) about crossing that line and adapting an already well established novel into a graphic novel with his book, The Way of Shadows (Weeks, Brandon, Macdonald).  As a newcomer into the comic-creationverse (that’s definitely a thing now), Brent had quite a bit to say about the experience of collaboration and what went into the process of adaptation. (more…)

D.I.Y. Comics: Cutting Out The Middle Man

Posted by & filed under Underdogs.

[Tweet “…comics are about story, art, and innovation.”]

When I committed to creating a comic, I knew that publishing with one of the big companies anytime soon was not a reality. I was introduced to web comics as a serious avenue at Comic Con New Orleans 2010. I’ve since created two web comics. Comics have been in my life as long as I can remember. For me, comics are about story, art, and innovation. I rarely bought for the sake of collecting. Coming to terms with that, I had no problem with the web comic medium.

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It’s Called Freelancing – Part 2

Posted by & filed under Underdogs.

Missed the first installment of this article series? Read it here.

The majority of independent employers/collaborators who are seeking comic book artists do not know the first thing about making a comic. Some do, but most don’t. They don’t understand that a single page of professional quality art can easily take days to produce, and are sometimes produced by multiple people. A lot of people seem to think that they are doing you a favor by offering to allow you to work on their comic, and as a result they don’t have to pay fair wages. They seem to think that all you have to do is sit down at your drawing table (or screen), snap your fingers, and a masterpiece will materialize before your eyes. To these people I say – DO 5 MINUTES OF BASIC RESEARCH! Producing well-drawn comic art is no easy feat, and those of us who do it for a living have been practicing nearly our entire lives to refine our skills. Artists have to eat and pay bills like everyone else, so we deserve to be paid for our work. Just because it’s a creative field does not mean we work for free. Our skills are a trade just like any other. Would you ask a plumber to spend all day working on your toilet only to offer them $10 once it’s fixed? I seriously hope not.

[Tweet “”…a single page of professional quality art can easily take days to produce.” @MichaelYakutis”]

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How Can A Manga Writer Transition Into Writing Western Style Graphic Novels?

Posted by & filed under Underdogs.

Making Comics friend Sarah Weaver had a wonderful question that demanded a response: “How can a manga writer transition into writing western style graphic novels?”

Michael Yakutis, Private Comic Eye, led the investigation into the answering of Sarah’s question:

Writing a westernized graphic novel (like those found in North America or Europe) differs from that of a manga in various ways. Obviously the visual look of manga is greatly different from western comics, and manga comics can get away with using symbols to help convey emotion, such as popping veins and sweat drops on the forehead. Manga comics tend to place more emphasis on character emotions and reactions whereas western comics typically avoid overly-exaggerated character expressions unless they’re going for a more “cartoony” look.

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“Inking” Digital Comics

Posted by & filed under Underdogs.

Inked linework is an iconic element of comics. Duh.

But have you thought about why? I guess because of the whole history of how the art form evolved; I’m not an expert on that. But it makes sense to me that Doré et al. etched rather than painted for book illustrations, and that Outcault et al. inked cartoons in a way that could be reproduced on plates. Pencil, pastel, and paint and other media just don’t play as nice with printing presses as clean linework does.

[Tweet “Pencil, pastel, and paint and other media just don’t play as nice with printing presses as clean linework does.”]

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Unnatural Talent: Roadblocks

Posted by & filed under Underdogs.

rb1

In the last chapter, I compared making a graphic novel to growing a tree. When growing a tree, there are things that can kill its growth, such as drought, floods, insect infestations, etc. Just like those things that can kill a tree, there are things that can stop the progress of your graphic novel. I like to call them roadblocks because they stand in the way of your progress, and sometimes you may not even realize it. In this chapter I’ll talk a bit about these roadblocks and potential ways to get around them. (more…)

What is the royalty percentage for creator-owned comics?

Posted by & filed under Underdogs.

Creator-owned comics are making a solid resurgence in the comic book world – from Ben Templesmith’s crowd-funded Squidder, to Jim Zub’s Skullkickers. With their successes proving that it can be done, we were asked what kinds of royalties creators see after they send their comic babies out into the world. Michael Yakutis snagged this question and gave us a great answer. (more…)

How Google Analytics Can Help You Market Your Webcomic

Posted by & filed under Underdogs.

Are you overwhelmed by the amount of data that Google Analytics gives you? You likely signed up for it to see how many people read your webcomic and now you’re sorting through page views, bounce rates and tons of other numbers that you’re not sure what to do with. It all seems interesting, but how can these numbers be used for something other than entertainment and ego boosting? One of the most powerful things you can do with Google Analytics is use the statistics it provides to find out if the way you’re marketing your webcomic is achieving the results you want.

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